23 Nov 2011
By Salma Khalik
Health Correspondent
EVERY day, four or five people in Singapore attempt suicide. At least one succeeds.
Doctors and medical social workers say those trying to kill themselves also appear to be getting younger.
The problem used to affect mainly the elderly, but in recent years it has spread to those in their 30s and 40s, said Ms Esther Lim, head of medical social services at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
For them, the trigger is often failed relationships and huge debts, she said.
The rate of suicide attempts is based on information from hospitals. The bigger ones, such as SGH and the National University Hospital (NUH), say they deal with one case a day. Smaller ones such as Khoo Teck Puat Hospital have a case every other day.
Most suicidal people who end up in hospital have taken a large dose of medicine. A few try to slash their wrists.
Others are stopped before they have the chance to hurt themselves. The police say they sometimes receive calls from family members worried that a relative might be considering suicide.
Professor Kua Ee Heok, a senior psychiatrist at the NUH, believes fewer elderly people are trying to kill themselves than in the past. This, he thinks, is due to greater awareness among general practitioners that older patients who complain of headaches or sleepless nights are often really suffering from depression.
He hopes to reduce the elderly suicide rate further by starting a programme in Jurong that aims to keep old people active – physically, mentally and socially.
He also wants to treat the core of the problem – their depression.
The hospital is recruiting experienced nurses to run the programme, and they have been offered a space to work in at Jurong Point shopping complex.
Elderly people on the scheme will go to the centre twice a week to take part in activities such as singing and taiji. Each will be given a case manager, whose job is to help plan activities for the entire week and make sure that those who have chronic ailments take their medicine correctly.
Prof Kua plans to engage the community to help. Already, some shop owners in the area have offered to give elderly participants “goodie bags”.
Ms Lim added that the factors which trigger suicide in old people tend to be loneliness and pain from illness or disability. “Sometimes, pain can be unbearable,” she said. “Or they get frustrated when they can’t do what they used to be able to do.”
For Madam Tan (not her real name), it was loneliness and feeling abandoned by her five children that made her try to kill herself two months ago.
The 76-year-old has been living alone in a four-room flat since her husband died several years ago. Her children have married and moved out.
She said she attempted suicide after failing to get to sleep for two weeks, which left her feeling weak and drowsy during the day. This caused her to burn herself while cooking.
When she told her children about it, they told her to see a doctor. “None of them offered to take me to the doctor, although I had told them I was feeling muddled from lack of sleep,” she said in Cantonese.
She went to several doctors for sleeping pills, as each would give her only a few at a time. She then took them all in one go “so I could go to sleep and never wake up”.
Fortunately, one of her grand-daughters was visiting at the time. The elderly woman was taken to hospital, where she had her stomach pumped. She was then seen by a psychiatrist who prescribed five different medicines.
Madam Tan is still taking an anti-depressant, and things are looking up for her.
She now lives with her third son and her two grand-daughters, who chat with her in the mornings and when they return from work. She is now happier and has no problem sleeping.
salma@sph.com.sg
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